Politico reported that Pearce was one of those who supported removing many key functions of the independent OCE, including its ability to refer allegations to law enforcement. The now-dead proposal sought to send give more power to the House Ethics Committee, which is made up of members of Congress.

From Politico:

Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) also vocally supported the amendment. They or their staff had come under OCE’s microscope.

A spokesman for Pearce said he had not spoken with the congressman about his vote.

“What is known, he has stated publicly his concerns over OCE’s process and has sought amendments in previous years that would maintain a high level of ethics in the House and ensure an individual’s protections under the Constitution,” Todd Willens told NM Political Report in an email.

Pearce had an issue with OCE after the office looked into allegations against one of his junior staffers. Those charges were eventually dropped.

“You can imagine, you’re just a junior staffer and you’re suddenly called up by people saying you’ve got to start turning over everything … and you can’t use a lawyer and then if you do, you wonder how you’re going to pay for it,” Pearce said to Roll Call in 2015 when he sought to add new language to the rules governing OCE. “That’s just not the position staffers of this Congress should be put in.”

At the time, Pearce sought to add language to rules governing OCE and HEC that the entities “may not take any action that would deny any person any right or protection provided under the Constitution of the United States.”

Willens said that despite the rule change, “The House will hold its members to the highest ethical standards and OCE will continue to operate independently to provide public accountability to Congress” and that “The OCE will continue to take in complaints of wrongdoing from the public.”

“The Office of Congressional Ethics concluded, as reported by the news media, that Rep. Lujan Grisham was led to believe the travel was sponsored by a non-profit organization, and not any other source. Rep. Lujan Grisham acted in good faith as she relied on the approval by House Ethics Committee,” Lujan Grisham spokesman Gilbert Gallegos told NM Political Report at the time.

The OCE was created in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal, where the lobbyist overbilled Native American casino interests by millions of dollars. U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, pleaded guilty to charges related to the Abramoff scandal.

Democrats created the OPCE in 2008, when they were in control of the House.

Related

Comments

More About

Inflammatory words over immigration led to a heated back-and-forth this week between a New Mexico Congresswoman and an Arizona Congressman. It began after Democratic New Mexico U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham brought Dalia Medina, a woman who immigrated to the U.S. with her parents from Mexico as a child, as her guest to the State of the Union last week.

The Libertarian Party of New Mexico filed paperwork to name former governor Gary Johnson as its nominee for U.S. Senate. The Secretary of State updated the listing of candidates to include Johnson Tuesday morning after the party filed at 9:30 on Monday, the office said.

School funding lawsuits are usually long legal slogs, but New Mexico’s timeline could be shortened by years. Late this morning, Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham was the first candidate for governor to say she would not continue a legal battle over whether the state is meeting its financial obligations to adequately educate children.

MCALLEN — Every afternoon, dozens of immigrant families released by the U.S. government walk three blocks from the Greyhound bus station in this South Texas border city to a migrant shelter run by Catholic Charities.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Groups advocating for the rights of children and families detained at the southern border are using the Freedom of Information Act to find out exactly where the Trump administration plans to build migrant detention centers on two military bases in the Southwest.

Matthew Reichbach is the editor of the NM Political Report. The former founder and editor of the NM Telegram, Matthew was also a co-founder of New Mexico FBIHOP with his brother and one of the original hires at the groundbreaking website the New Mexico Independent. Matthew has covered events such as the Democratic National Convention and Netroots Nation and formerly published, “The Morning Word,” a daily political news summary for NM Telegram and the Santa Fe Reporter.
Matthew has appeared as a panelist for the Society of Professional Journalists’ New Mexico Chapter’s panel on covering New Mexico politics and the legislature.
A native New Mexican from Rio Rancho, Matthew’s family has been in New Mexico since the 1600s.